Pendulum
by webofdreams89
Summary: It’s like clockwork. SasuNaru.


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Summary: It's like clockwork. Back and forth, back and forth. SasuNaru. Rated T.

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**Pendulum  
Completed August 15, 2008**

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Sasuke doesn't know it, but sometimes, in the dead of night when the complete silence of the hour allows the obnoxiously loud grandfather clock to be heard from down stairs even with the bedroom door tightly shut, the ticking and tocking like thunder in Naruto's ears, he watches Sasuke sleep. Naruto will feel tired, physically warn from hours of grueling training and several extra of a more personal workout with Sasuke. He will feel the exhaustion right down to his bones, the marrow writhing in pain at the slightest movements.

But Naruto never cares. He will not sleep, not at this hour, not with the loathsome grandfather clock, a horrendous gift from Sakura but she'd meant well, fills his ears with it's abiding and incensed melody. Not when Sasuke, for once in the entire day, lies peacefully beside him.

There is no scowl on Sasuke's face, no eyes narrowed in something akin to disgust or irritation. His pale skin is perfectly smooth and, if anything, there is just the slightest lilt to the corners of his mouth, making Naruto smile at the thought that Sasuke is having a pleasant dream.

The satisfaction after training, the intense pleasure of making love, it is nothing compared the inner peace Naruto feels as he sees Sasuke's serene and sleeping face. It saddens Naruto slightly because he doubts that he can ever make Sasuke look that tranquil. Naruto cannot give Sasuke what he wants because Sasuke doesn't yet know himself what it is that he wants.

Trying his hardest not to jostle the sleeping man who's limbs are currently tangled with his, Naruto leans down and plants a tender kiss on Sasuke's temple before lying back down in the Uchiha's arms to drift off back to sleep, thinking happily that he can have this moment again the next day. And the next.

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Light is just beginning to filter in through the blinds, casting faint shadows on the floor beside the bed, growing stronger and more confident as the sun rises in the sky. Sasuke has just awoken, like he always does this time of morning, a good hour before their alarm is due to go off, indicating the beginning of a new day.

But Sasuke's day has already begun, he doesn't need a stupid alarm clock to tell him that.

He extracts himself from Naruto's near-death grip, and tiptoes to the bathroom. After finishing, he crosses the room to pull a heavy black curtain that Naruto always forgets to shut, covering the blinds, and shutting out the outside world for just a little bit longer.

After a moment of standing at the foot of the bed in vigilant concentration, Sasuke walks to the side and slowly climbs back in, huddling under the covers to ward off the cool morning air. Naruto stirs slightly, his arms finding Sasuke and pulling Sasuke to him, before settling back down. Sasuke almost smiles, his arms going around the blond, thinking to himself that Naruto is all he'll ever need.

He lays his head back down on his pillow, knowing that he will not fall back asleep. He doesn't mind. This is far more important, this moment, his favorite time of the entire day, over and done with before the sun has even had the chance to leap from the horizon and into the sky.

His eyes are quietly trained on Naruto's sleeping face, the soft calm found there. For once in the entire day, there is not a wide, goofy grin plastered across the blond's face, marring the smooth features he gets to enjoy now. There is no blithering idiot to say stupid, unmeditated things that more often than not gave Sasuke a migraine. As Sasuke stares, he finds only peace, only tranquility, and he does smile.

He smiles until he notices the pounding pendulum, the swinging back and forth, wondering again why they keep the blasted thing, from the first floor, the ruthless and unceasing hammering. The clock, it was Sasuke's constant reminder that this moment never lasted. But he always had it to look forward to for the next day.

As Sasuke stares, doing his best to ignore the clock, instead concentrating on the in and out of Naruto's breathing, he notices yet again the restlessness of his limbs, the urge to begin the new day, to train. He ignores this bout of agitation, relishing in the fact that, as the curtain fights a losing battle of keeping out the day, as the clock chooses to ignore all idle threats directed it's way, Naruto doesn't know that Sasuke watches him sleep.

Before long, the alarm clock drowns out the ticking and tocking of the clock from down below, stirring the blond from dreamland, his sleep-ridden blue eyes cracking open. But Sasuke smiles, knowing that he can have this moment again tomorrow. And the day after that.

_The End._

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